Thread-manipulating device for sewing-machines.



No. 679,660. Patented July 30, 190i. R. G. WOODWARD.

THREAD MANIPULATING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

(Application filed Sept. 1 1899.) (No Model.) s Sheets-Sheet WITNESSES gENTOH A TTORN E Y E THE nonms FEIERS 00.. PHOTO-7716.. wuumm'cm'n. c.

No. 679,660. Patented July 30, 19m. 3. a. WDODWARD. THREAD IANIPULATINGDEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

(Applicnion filed Sept. 1, 1899.) (No. Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2.

)M/VENTOR MILAN/PM I" IIIIIII' W/T/VESSES ATTORNEY {No Model.)

Patented July 30, I90I. R. G. WOODWABD.

THREADVMANI PULATING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

(Application filed Sept. 1, 1899.)

5 Sheets-Sheet 3.

W/ TN 5 SSE S A TTOHNE) No. 679,666. Patented July 30, 19m. 6. 6.wuonwnnu. THREAD IANIPULATIKG DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(Application filed Sept. 1 1899.) (No Model.)

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No. 679,660. Patented July 30, 1901,. B. G. WOUDWARD. THREADMANIPULATING DEVICE FDR'SEWING MACHINES.

(Application filed Sept. 1, 1899.) (No Model.) 5 Sheen-Sheet 5.

IN VENTOI? v WITNESSES A TTOHNE) UNTTnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUSSEL G. l/VOODVVARD, OF WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNIONSPECIAL SEWING MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

THREAD- -ANIPULATING DEVICE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 679,660, dated July 30,1901.

Application filed September 1, 1899. Serial No. 729,194. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RUssEL G.WOODWARD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Waukegan, in the county of Lake, State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Thread-ManipulatingDevices for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a description,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings and to the letters andfigures of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to an improvement in sewing-machines, andespecially to machines for overseaming or finishing the edges of fabricsor for ornamenting the faces of fabrics.

The object of the invention is especially to provide a novel machine forfinishing the edges of knit goods, articles made of lace, and the like,and it is herein shown as applied to a sewing-machine of thechain-stitch type; but it will be understood that it is not necessarilylimited to this type of machine nor to the particular work abovereferred to, for it is adapted to various kinds of material, and inaddition to finishing the edges of fabrics may be used to ornament thefiat face of garments.

The invention consists, primarily,of a mechanism for adaptation to aUnion Special Twin Needle Machine, such as illustrated in Patent No.$414,492, of June, 1886, whereby the thread carried by one needle isseized by an implement and carried over into the path of the otherneedle, so that said other needle passes down into the bight of the loopformed in the thread of the other needle by the aforesaidimplement,thereby forming an ornamental cross-stitch on the upper surface of thematerial being sewed, or if the one needle pass down outside the edge ornear the edge of the goods being sewed, forming an overseam or edgefinish which not only ornaments the edge of the garment being sewed, butbinds its raw edges and prevents raveling.

The invention consists, secondly, in the combination with astitch-forming mechanism of a thread-manipulating device adapted tocarry a loop of thread across the line of the seam, release it and moveback to its initial position.

It consists, finally, in various details of con struction andarrangement of parts, all as hereinafter described, and referred to inthe appended claims.

The invention is illustrated panying drawings, in which Figure l is aside elevation of a sewingmachine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is asectional plan view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspectiveview, certain of the parts of the frame being removed to show themechanism forming the features of my invention more clearly. Figs. 4, 5,6, and 7 are perspective views illustrating the various positions of thethread-manipulating finger. Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of the stitchmade on my improved machine, and Fig. 9 is a top plan view of the same.

In the drawings, A represents the base of a sewing-machine of the UnionSpecial Twin Needle type. B is the cloth-plate; C, the needle-lever; D,the gooseneck; E, the drivingshaft; F, the presser-foot; G, the feeddog;H, the looper-operating pitman; I, the needle-bar; K K, the needles; L,the tongue on the presser-foot, over which the stitches are formed andoff of which they slide as the feed progresses, and M is the adjustableguide for the edge of the garment to be sewed, all these parts being ofwell-known construction and substantially like corresponding parts inthe Union Special Twin Needle Machine, the material features of whichare illustrated in the patent hereinbefore referred to. The action ofthe looper with respect to the needles is as described in connectionwith said patent, the under or looper thread concatenating with theupper or needle threads on the under surface of the fabric beneath thetongue on the throat-plate, the appearance of the stitch on the undersurface of the fabric being illustrated in Fig. 8, in which a a are theloops of needle-thread, and b is the looper or under thread.

Upon the rear end of the driving-shaft E, adjacent the frame of themachine, are mounted two eccentrics or a part having two eccentricsurfaces, over each of which is clamped the lower end of aconnecting-rod, these connecting-rods being indicated by the numerals 12 and the parts which embrace the eccentric and in which it travels by 34.

Secured to the head of the sewing-machine in the accomby any suitablemeans is a rectangular frame or block N, provided with V-shaped tracks5, fitting beveled grooves 6 in a gate or frame O,which slides on saidtracks or ways 5. This gate or frame 0 has two lugs 7 8 projectingtoward the front of the machine, provided with openings through whichpasses and in which is journaled a vertical bar or shaft P, to the lowerend of which is secured the threadmanipulating device, herein shown as afinger 9, the movements of which will be referred to hereinafter. Therod or shaft P, and with it the finger 9, is raised by the action of thepresser-bar-lifting cam 10 by reason of the connecting angular piece 11,which at one end is formed with a collar embracing the presser-bar 12,while its lower extending portion lies beneath a collar 13 on the rod orshaft P, and as the presser-bar is lifted rises against the collar 13and raises it also. The rod or shaft P is normally kept in a depressedposition by means of the coiled spring 14:, lying between the collar 13and the lug 7.

To enable the thread-manipulating device 9 to properly do its work, itis desirable that it should have movement in an elliptical path, or atleast that it should have movement to enable it to take the threadcarried by needle K, carry it over so that the needle K will go down inthe loop thus formed, then it must release the loop and move out of thevertical plane of the needles as they are moving down, and then moveback to first position, so as to pass underneath the points of theneedles as they are completing their upward movement. To give the device9 its forward-and-backward movement to carry the thread of the needle Kover into the path of needle K, the sliding gate or frame 0 is providedon its front face with a ball-stud fitting in a socket in the head 14,to which is secured one end of the connecting-rod 15, which at itsopposite end is secured to a similar head 16, pivotally attached to thestud 17 on the upper arm 18 of a bell-crank lever sleeved on the shaftQ, the lower or transverse arm 19 of this bell-crank lever having aball-and-stud or other flexible joint connection with the upper end ofthe eccentric connecting-rod 1. By this arrangement it will be noticedthat as the eccentric on the driving-shaft E rotates it will raise therod 1 up and down, oscillate the bell-crank lever 18 19, and through theconnections described slide the gate or frameO, which supports thethread-manipulatingdevice, back and forth. While the reciprocatingmovement is taking place the device 9 must also have an oscillatorymovement on a vertical axis to cause it to take and leave theneedlethread and move sidewise to avoid the needles in their descent.This movement is accomplished by oscillating the rod or shaft P on itsaxis. This rod or shaft P has clamped about its upper end the end of alink 20, which at its opposite end is provided with a ball 21, fittingin a socket in the head 22 on the end of connecting-rod 23, which at itsopposite emcee end is pivoted on the stud 24 on the end of the verticalarm 25 of a bell-crank lever, journaled on the stationary shaft Q, andhaving its horizontal arm 26 connected by a balland-sock'et or otherflexible joint to the eccentric connecting-rod 2. By this arrangementwhen the driving-shaft rotates the eccentric rod 2 rises up and down andthrough the connections described oscillates the shaft P and through itthe thread-manipulating device 9.

Assuming that the needles have reached their lowest position, the looperits retracted position, and the thread device 9 its retracted position,movement of the driving-shaft raises the needles, moves forward thelooper to engage the needle-loops, and at the same time the end of thedevice 9 swings in, so that in the continued movement it will movebodily forward, so that the depression 27 in the end will engage thethread carried by the needle K, will pass beneath the points of theneedles K and K, and carry the loop drawn out byit.

to such position that the needle K in its descent will pass into thebight of the loop, as shown in Fig. 9. When the needle K has engaged theloop, the device 9 swings toward the rear of the machine to pass out ofthe loop and then moves positively backward in a plane to the rear ofthe needles. It will be seen that the parts are so timed that after thedevice has engaged the thread of needle K the bell-crank levers move inunison for a distance until the line of scam has been crossed, when thesmaller moves ahead of the other and the latter begins to move backahead of the smaller one, thus swinging the device out of thethread-loop, this swinging of the device on its axis taking place whenit moves in to engage the thread and moves out to release it.

To prevent danger of breaking of the thread of the needle K, it isdesirable to pull off from the spool an additional quantity of thatparticular thread to allow for its passage across the line of seam, andtherefore the pull-off 28 is provided.

Various minor modifications and changes may be made in the constructionof the parts of the machine without departing from the spirit of myinvention, and it will be readily seen that the mechanism which actuatesthe thread-carrying device 9 may be employed to actuate a finger whichis threaded to carry a thread which would be interwoven with theneedle-threads, and I wish, therefore, to claim the mechanism foroperating the threadcarrying device, broadly, no matter for what purposeit may be applied.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

'1. In a sewing machine in combination with the stitch-forming mechanismthereof, a thread-manipulating device arranged on a vertical supportwith means for reciprocating said thread-manipulating devicetransversely of the line of feed, and means for oscillating it on itsvertical axis of support; substantially as described.

2. In a sewing-machine, in combination with the stitch-forming mechanismthereof including a plurality of needles, a threadmanipulating devicearranged on a vertical support with means for moving saidthreadmanipulating device transversely of the line of feed, in a planebelow, the points of the needles, means for oscillating it on itssupporting axis, and means for returning it to its first position;substantially as described.

3. In a sewingmachine having suitable stitch-forming mechanism, athread-manipulating device, a vertical shaft supporting the same, meansfor oscillating said shaft, a support for said shaft, and means forreciprocating said support; substantially as described.

l. In a sewing machine having suitable stitch-forming mechanism, athread-manipulating device, a vertical shaft supporting the same, meansfor oscillating said shaft, a gate or frame on which said shaft isjournaled, a stationary frame on which said gate or frame .is supported;and means for reciprocating said gate or frame 011 its supportingstationary frame; substantially as described.

5. In a sewing-machine, in combination with the stitch-formingmechanism, a driving-shaft, a thread manipulating device, a slidingsupport therefor, and means for operating said thread-manipulatingdevice comprising a bell-crank lever, connections between the bell-cranklever and said support and eccentric connections between the bellcranklever and the driving-shaft; substantially as described.

6. In a sewing-machine, in combination with the stitch-formingmechanism, a driving-shaft, a thread -manipulating device, a shaftsupporting the same, a sliding support for the shaft, a bell-crank leveroscillated from the driving-shaft and operatively connected with theshaft which supports the thread-manipulating device, and a secondbell-crank lever oscillated from the drivingshaft, and operativelyconnected with the sliding support; substantially as described.

7. In a sewingmachine, the combination with two vertically-reciprocatingthread-carrying eye-pointed needles, and complemental stitch-formingmechanism, an oscillating and reciprocating thread manipulating devicewith means for moving it into position to engage the thread of one ofthe needles, and to carry it across into position to be engaged by theother needle, and then to move it toward the rear of the machine to passout of the loop; substantially as described.

8. In a sewing-machine including a plurality of needles, athread-manipulating device arranged on a vertical support, with meansfor reciprocating it to carry a loop of thread across the line of theseam and means for oscillating it to release the loop of thread and forreturning it in a plane back of the needles to its initial position.

9. In a sewing-machine having a plurality of needles, athread-manipulator arranged to engage the thread of one of the needlesand carry it across into position to be engaged by the other needle anda pull-0E 28, adapted to engage the thread acted upon by the maniplator,whereby an extra amount of slack is supplied to said thread;substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

RUSSEL G. WOOD WARD.

Witnesses:

CHESTER MCNEIL, JULIUS SHIRE.

